Oita Bank Akarengakan

This is the only western-style architecture from the Meiji Period still exists in Oita City. Its construction began in 1910. Tatsuno Kataoka Architectural Firm designed it, which is known for Kingo Tatsuno who designed Tokyo Marunouchi train station. As the headquarters of then Nijusan Bank, it was completed in three years.

The exterior is made of red bricks from England accented with white granite bands, which resembles a chocolate cake with evenly-placed circle and rectangle windows looking like decorations. The helmet-like dome topping the corner of the building is the typical Tatsuno-style architecture.

Even though the building was destroyed in the WWII air raid except for the outer walls, it was restored after the war and was used as the headquarters of Oita Bank. A huge renovation in 2018 brought back the interior and columns closer to the original state.

Today, safe-deposits and ATMs, as well as a local product shop and a cafe are in the building. As the memento of the bank era, a marble clock with tick marks only between 9am and 3pm is on display.